Methods and arrangements for device profiles in wireless networks

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide a device profile mechanism for wireless devices. Many embodiments comprise a medium access control (MAC) sublayer logic to build frames comprising a device profile index element for a first device. Embodiments may facilitate access by a second device to a device profile for the first device without communication of the entire device profile from the first device. In some embodiments, the second device may access a storage medium integrated with or accessible to the second device to determine the device profile. Some embodiments may store the device profile index element in memory, in logic, or in another manner that facilitates transmission of the device profile index element in frames. Some embodiments may receive and detect communications with the device profile index element. Further embodiments may generate and transmit a communication with the device profile index element.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments are in the field of wireless communications. Moreparticularly, embodiments are in the field of communications protocolsbetween wireless transmitters and receivers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a wireless network comprising aplurality of communications devices, including multiple fixed or mobilecommunications devices;

FIG. 1A depicts an embodiment of a management frame for establishingcommunications between wireless communication devices;

FIG. 1B depicts an embodiment of a device profile index element in theframe body of the management frame in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment of a device profile identifier field;

FIG. 1D depicts an embodiment of a device category and device type tablefor establishing communications between wireless communication devices;

FIG. 1E depicts an embodiment of a device profiles data structure storedin memory of an access point for determining traffic characteristics fora communications device based upon a device profile identifier field;

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of an apparatus to generate, transmit,receive and interpret a device profile index element in a frame;

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of a flowchart to generate a frame with adevice profile index element; and

FIGS. 4A-B depict embodiments of flowcharts to transmit, receive, andinterpret communications with a device profile index element asillustrated in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following is a detailed description of novel embodiments depicted inthe accompanying drawings. However, the amount of detail offered is notintended to limit anticipated variations of the described embodiments;on the contrary, the claims and detailed description are to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present teachings as defined by the appended claims.The detailed descriptions below are designed to make such embodimentsunderstandable to a person having ordinary skill in the art.

Embodiments provide a device profile mechanism for wirelesscommunications devices. Many embodiments comprise a medium accesscontrol (MAC) sublayer logic to build frames comprising a device profileindex element for a first communications device. In several embodiments,the MAC sublayer logic may implement a device profile index element inthe frame body of an association frame and a reassociation frame.Embodiments may facilitate access by a second communications device to adevice profile for the first communications device without communicationof the entire device profile from the first communications device. Insome embodiments, the second communications device may access a storagemedium integrated with or accessible to the second communications deviceto determine the device profile. Several embodiments comprise a datastructure comprising at least one device profile that is accessiblebased upon indexes indicative of a device category and a device type andincluded in the device profile index element. Some embodiments may storethe device profile index element in memory, in logic, or in anothermanner that facilitates transmission of the device profile index elementin frames. Some embodiments may receive and detect communications withthe device profile index element. Further embodiments may generate andtransmit a communication with the device profile index element.

Some embodiments comprise Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IoT isreferred to Thing-to-Thing connections via the Internet. IoT devices maytake advantage of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network ubiquity, enablingnew applications that often require very low power consumption, amongother unique characteristics. Wi-Fi generally refers to devices thatimplement the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)IEEE 802.11-2007, IEEE Standard for Informationtechnology—Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements—Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)Specifications(http://standardsieee.org/geticee802/download/802.11-2007.pdf) and otherrelated wireless standards.

In addition to traditional mobile devices (Laptop, Smart Phone, Tablet,and the like), the IoT devices may include sensors, meters, controls,instruments, monitors, appliances, and the like. These devices mayrequire a deeply embedded wireless connection, may not have any visualcontrols or display function, and may require several years of batterylife.

Some embodiments employ IEEE 802.11v systems. The IEEE 802.11v systemsmay comprise a set of network infrastructure assisted power savingfeatures that allow client devices to sleep for longer periods whilestill performing essential functions. These features, however, areprimarily designed for mobile devices that are general personal devicesand have comprehensive user interfaces. Unlike personal devices, IoTdevices may be designed to perform specific functions and may havelimited in resources (e.g. memory). Thus, several embodiments implementa device profile mechanism to facilitate of the power saving featuresdefined for IEEE 802.11v devices in IoT devices with limited memory andlimited user interface capabilities.

Some embodiments implement a device profile mechanism to simplifyconfiguration and communication of Wi-Fi embedded devices when the Wi-Fiembedded devices are using, for example, IEEE 802.11v power savingfeatures, including BSS Max Idle Period, Traffic Filter Service,Flexible Multicast Service and Directed multicast service. Furtherembodiments implement a device profile mechanism for any Quality ofService (QoS) related traffic classification (TCLAS) or trafficspecification (TSPEC) setting. According to some embodiments, new deviceprofiles may be building blocks of the Ultra Low Power technology, whichmay enable small battery-powered wireless devices (e.g., sensors) to useWi-Fi to connect to the Internet with a longer or extendedcommunications range.

Further embodiments may provide, e.g., indoor and/or outdoor “smart”grid and sensor services. For example, some embodiments may providesensors to meter the usage of electricity, water, gas, and/or otherutilities for a home or homes within a particular area and wirelesslytransmit the usage of these services to a meter substation. Furtherembodiments may utilize sensors for home healthcare, clinics, orhospitals for monitoring healthcare related events and vital signs forpatients such as fall detection, pill bottle monitoring, weightmonitoring, sleep apnea, blood sugar levels, heart rhythms, and thelike. Embodiments designed for such services generally require muchlower data rates and much lower (ultra low) power consumption thandevices provided in IEEE 802.11n/ac systems.

Logic, modules, devices, and interfaces herein described may performfunctions that may be implemented in hardware and/or code. Hardwareand/or code may comprise software, firmware, microcode, processors,state machines, chipsets, or combinations thereof designed to accomplishthe functionality.

Embodiments may facilitate wireless communications. Some embodiments maycomprise low power wireless communications like Bluetooth®, wirelesslocal area networks (WLANs), wireless metropolitan area networks(WMANs), wireless personal area networks (WPAN), cellular networks, IEEE802.11-2007, communications in networks, messaging systems, andsmart-devices to facilitate interaction between such devices.Furthermore, some wireless embodiments may incorporate a single antennawhile other embodiments may employ multiple antennas. For instance,multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) is the use of radio channelscarrying signals via multiple antennas at both the transmitter andreceiver to improve communication performance.

While some of the specific embodiments described below will referencethe embodiments with specific configurations, those of skill in the artwill realize that embodiments of the present disclosure mayadvantageously be implemented with other configurations with similarissues or problems.

Turning now to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system 1000. The wireless communication system 1000comprises a communications device 1010 that may be wire line andwirelessly connected to a network 1005. The communications device 1010may communicate wirelessly with a plurality of communication devices1030, 1050, and 1055 via the network 1005. The communications device1010 may comprise an access point. The communications device 1030 maycomprise a low power communications device such as a sensor, a consumerelectronics device, a personal mobile device, or the like. Andcommunications devices 1050 and 1055 may comprise sensors, stations,access points, hubs, switches, routers, computers, laptops, netbooks,cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), orother wireless-capable devices. Thus, communications devices may bemobile or fixed. For example, the communications device 1010 maycomprise a metering substation for water consumption within aneighborhood of homes. Each of the homes within the neighborhood maycomprise a sensor such as the communications device 1030 and thecommunications device 1030 may be integrated with or coupled to a watermeter usage meter. Initially, communications device 1030 may receive abeacon from communications device 1010 and, thereafter send acommunication comprising an association frame with a device profileindex element 1035 to inform communications device 1010 of a deviceprofile for communications device 1030. Periodically thereafter, thecommunications device 1030 may initiate communications with the meteringsubstation to transmit data related to water usage. Furthermore, themetering station or other communications device may periodicallyinitiate communications with the communications device 1030 inaccordance with traffic parameters of the device profile forcommunications device 1030 to, e.g., update firmware of thecommunications device 1030. In other embodiments, the communicationsdevice 1030 may only respond to communications and may not compriselogic that initiates communications.

In further embodiments, the communications device 1010 may facilitatedata offloading. For example, communications devices that are low powersensors may include a data offloading scheme to, e.g., communicate viaWi-Fi, another communications device, a cellular network, or the likefor the purposes of reducing power consumption consumed in waiting foraccess to, e.g., a metering station and/or increasing availability ofbandwidth. Communications devices that receive data from sensors such asmetering stations may include a data offloading scheme to, e.g.,communicate via Wi-Fi, another communications device, a cellularnetwork, or the like for the purposes of reducing congestion of thenetwork 1005.

The network 1005 may represent an interconnection of a number ofnetworks. For instance, the network 1005 may couple with a wide areanetwork such as the Internet or an intranet and may interconnect localdevices wired or wirelessly interconnected via one or more hubs,routers, or switches. In the present embodiment, network 1005communicatively couples communications devices 1010, 1030, 1050, and1055.

The communication devices 1010 and 1030 comprise memory 1011 and 1031,and medium access control (MAC) sublayer logic 1018 and 1038,respectively. The memory 1011 and 1031 may comprise a storage mediumsuch as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), read only memory (ROM),flash memory, a hard disk drive, a solid-state drive, or the like. Thememory 1011 and 1031 may store the frames, preambles, and preamblestructures or portions thereof. The memory 1011 may comprise a deviceprofiles data structure 1012 that comprises one or more device profilesfor devices such as device 1032. The device profiles data structure 1012may include an indexing structure to retrieve or look-up a deviceprofile based upon a device profile index element such as a deviceprofile index element 1032. The memory 1031 may comprise the deviceprofile index element 1032 and, in some embodiments, may comprise customparameters for the device profile of communications device 1030.

The MAC sublayer logic 1018, 1038 may comprise logic to implementfunctionality of the MAC sublayer of the data link layer of thecommunications device 1010, 1030. The MAC sublayer logic 1018, 1038 maygenerate the frames and pass the frames to physical layer (PHY) logic togenerate physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs). More specifically,the frame builders 1013 and 1033 may generate frames and data unitbuilders of the PHY logic may encapsulate the frames with preambles togenerate PPDUs for transmission via a physical layer device such as thetransceivers (RX/TX) 1030 and 1040. The frames 1014 and 1034, alsoreferred to as MAC layer Protocol Data Units (MPDUs), may comprisemanagement, control, and data frames. In many embodiments, the framebuilders 1013 and 1033 may generate frames 1014 and 1034 with deviceprofile index elements 1015 and 1035. For example, frame builder 1033may generate a management frame 1034 such as an association requestframe to request an association with the access point such as thecommunications device 1010 or a reassociation request frame to requestreassociation with the communications device 1010. The associationrequest frame may comprise the device profile index element 1035 and mayenable the communications device 1010 to allocate resources for andsynchronize with the transceiver 1040. The association request frame maycomprise information about the transceiver 1040 such as supported datarates and the service set identification (SSID) of the network withwhich the communications device 1030 wishes to associate.

After receiving the association request, the communications device 1010determines whether to associate with the transceiver 1040, and, ifaccepted, reserves memory space and establishes an associationidentifier (AID) for the transceiver 1040. The communications device1010 may determine the device profile index element 1035 from theassociation request frame and determine the device profile for thecommunications device 1030 by looking up the device profile in thedevice profiles data structure 1012. The communications device 1010 maylook-up the device profile in the device profiles data structure 1012 byusing the device profile index 1035 as an index to the device profilesdata structure 1012. The default values of the device profile forcommunications device 1030 may then be used unless custom parameters areset for the communications device 1030. The communications device 1030may utilize traffic filter service (TFS) frames, flexible multicastservice frames, directed multicast service frames, or other trafficrelated frames to present custom parameters for the device profile tocommunications device 1010.

The communications device 1010 may then respond to the associationrequest with a management frame 1014 such as an association responseframe or a reassociation response frame. The communications device 1010may transmit the association response frame containing an acceptance orrejection notice to the transceiver 1040. If the communications device1010 accepts the association with the transceiver 1040, the associationresponse frame may include information regarding the association, suchas the association identifier (AID) and the supported data rates.

The communications devices 1010, 1030, 1050, and 1055 may each comprisea transceiver such as transceivers 1020 and 1040. Each transceiver 1020,1040 comprises an RF transmitter and an RF receiver. Each RF transmitterimpresses digital data onto an RF frequency for transmission of the databy electromagnetic radiation. An RF receiver receives electromagneticenergy at an RF frequency and extracts the digital data therefrom. FIG.1 may depict a number of different embodiments including aMultiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) system with, e.g., four spatialstreams, and may depict degenerate systems in which one or more of thecommunications devices 1010, 1030, 1050, and 1055 comprise a receiverand/or a transmitter with a single antenna including a Single-Input,Single Output (SISO) system, a Single-Input, Multiple Output (SIMO)system, and a Multiple-Input, Single Output (MISO) system.

In many embodiments, transceivers 1020 and 1040 implement orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a method of encodingdigital data on multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM is afrequency-division multiplexing scheme used as a digital multi-carriermodulation method. A large number of closely spaced orthogonalsub-carrier signals are used to carry data. The data is divided intoseveral parallel data streams or channels, one for each sub-carrier.Each sub-carrier is modulated with a modulation scheme at a low symbolrate, maintaining total data rates similar to conventionalsingle-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth.

An OFDM system uses several carriers, or “tones,” for functionsincluding data, pilot, guard, and nulling. Data tones are used totransfer information between the transmitter and receiver via one of thechannels. Pilot tones are used to maintain the channels, and may provideinformation about time/frequency and channel tracking Guard tones may beinserted between symbols such as the short training field (STF) and longtraining field (LTF) symbols during transmission to avoid inter-symbolinterference (ISI), which might result from multi-path distortion. Theseguard tones also help the signal conform to a spectral mask. The nullingof the direct component (DC) may be used to simplify direct conversionreceiver designs.

In some embodiments, the communications device 1010 optionally comprisesa digital beam former (DBF) 1022, as indicated by the dashed lines. TheDBF 1022 transforms information signals into signals to be applied toelements of an antenna array 1024. The antenna array 1024 is an array ofindividual, separately excitable antenna elements. The signals appliedto the elements of the antenna array 1024 cause the antenna array 1024to radiate one to four spatial channels. Each spatial channel so formedmay carry information to one or more of the communications devices 1030,1050, and 1055. Similarly, the communications device 1030 comprises atransceiver 1040 to receive and transmit signals from and to thecommunications device 1010. The transceiver 1040 may comprise an antennaarray 1044 and, optionally, a DBF 1042.

FIG. 1A depicts an embodiment of a management frame 1060 forestablishing communications between wireless communication devices suchas communications devices 1010, 1030, 1050, and 1055 in FIG. 1. Themanagement frame 1060 may comprise a MAC header 1061 followed by a framebody 1074, and followed by a frame check sequence (FCS) 1076. The MACheader 1061 may comprise a frame control field 1062, a duration field1064, a destination address (DA) field 1066, a source address (SA) field1068, a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field 1070, and a sequencecontrol field 1072. The frame control field 1062 may be two octets andmay identify the type and subtype of the frame such as a management typeand association subtype frame. The duration field 1064 may be two octetsand may indicate a duration such as a network allocation vector (NAV).The DA field 1066 may be six octets and may identify the MAC address ofthe destination communications device. The SA field 1068 may be sixoctets and may identify the MAC address of the source communicationsdevice. The BSSID field 1070 may be six octets and may indicate theidentifier for the basic service set. And the sequence control field1072 may be two octets and may indicate a sequence number and fragmentnumber of a MAC service data unit (MSDU).

The frame body 1074 may be up to to 2312 octets and may comprise adevice profile index element such as the device profile index element1080 illustrated in FIG. 1B. The FCS 1076 may comprise a cyclicredundancy check value such as an IEEE 32-bit cyclic redundancy checkvalue. The cyclic redundancy check value is a value for use by anerror-detecting cyclic redundancy code (CRC) to detect common types oferrors on communication channels, providing quick and reasonableassurance of the integrity of communications received.

FIG. 1B depicts an embodiment of a device profile index element 1080 forthe frame body 1074 of the management frame 1060 in FIG. 1A. The deviceprofile index element 1080 may comprise an element identifier field1082, a length 1084 field, and a device profile identifier field 1086.The element identifier field 1082 may be one octet and may identify theelement 1080 as a device profile index element. The length field 1084may be one octet and may identify the length of the device profileidentifier field 1086. And the device profile identifier field 1086 maybe two octets and may comprise data to identify a device profile for acommunications device such as the communications device that includesthe device profile identifier field 1086 in the frame body 1074 of amanagement frame 1060.

FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment of a device profile identifier field 1090for establishing communications between wireless communication devicessuch as communications devices 1010. 1030, 1050, and 1055 in FIG. 1. Thedevice profile identifier 1086 of FIG. 1B may utilize a device profileidentifier such as the device profile identifier 1090 illustrated inFIG. 1C. The device profile identifier field 1090 may comprise twofields: a device category field 1092 and a device type field 1094. Thedevice category field 1092 may be one octet and may identify thecategory within which the communications device falls, e.g., thecommunications device that creates the management frame 1060 comprisingthe device category 1092. And the device type field 1094 may be oneoctet and may identify the type of device within the device category1092. For example, the device category 1092 may comprise eight bytes ofdata that comprise an index for a device profiles data structure such asthe device profiles data structure 1012 in FIG. 1 and the device type1094 may comprise eight bytes of data that comprise an index for adevice profiles data structure such as the device profiles datastructure 1012 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1D illustrates an embodiment of a device category and device typetable 1100 for establishing communications between wirelesscommunication devices. In particular, FIG. 1D illustrates a table ofpartial index values that for the device category 1092 and the devicetype 1094 in FIG. 1C. The index values are partial values to illustratethe values. Many embodiments may include eight byte values, four bytevalues, In particular, the device category index column may provide anindex value such as a hexadecimal value indicative of the devicesdescribed in the adjacent description column. In some embodiments, thehexadecimal value represented in the device category index column maycomprise the index to include in the device category field 1092 of FIG.1C. Similarly, the device type index column may provide an index valuesuch as a hexadecimal value indicative of the devices described in theadjacent description column. In some embodiments, the hexadecimal valuerepresented in the device type index column may comprise the index toinclude in the device type field 1094 of FIG. 1C. Note that in the table1100 illustrated, the device type index includes valid device types forthe device category index in the same row. Note also that the values anddescriptions in this table are for illustrative purposes and embodimentsare not limited to index values and descriptions in this table 1100, butmay, in fact, have completely different index numbers and descriptions.

To illustrate, Wi-Fi devices may be categorized as the followingcategories, but not limited to: Personal Computer, Personal mobiledevices, Display Units, Consumer Electronic (CE) devices, Sensordevices, and the like. Each category may include specific device types.For example, the personal computer category may include specific typesof personal computers such as desktops, game stations, home theatercomputers, workstations, and the like. The personal mobile devicecategory may include specific types of personal mobile devices such aslaptops, netbooks, smart phones, tablets, and the like. The display unitcategory may include specific types of display units such as monitors,televisions, weather stations, and the like. The consumer electronicscategory may include specific types of consumer electronics such asalarm clocks, digital video recorders (DVRs), watches, and the like. Andthe sensor devices category may include specific types of sensor devicessuch as appliance monitors, security monitors, smart gas meters, smartwater meters, thermostats, water heater monitors, and the like. Otherembodiments may organize the table 1100 different such as independentlists of device category indexes and device types indexes.

FIG. 1E depicts an embodiment of a table 1200 including a deviceprofiles data structure stored in memory of an access point such as thedevice profiles data structure 1012 illustrated in FIG. 1. The deviceprofiles data structure may facilitate determination of connectivityand/or traffic parameters to associate with a communications devicebased upon a device profile identifier field such as the device profileidentifier field 1090 illustrated in FIG. 1C. In some embodiments, adevice profile may be defined for each of device category and devicetype and the device category and device type field values may beutilized as indexes to look up the device profile for a particularcommunications device.

The device profile may include a set of common category parameters and aset of device type specific parameters. In the present embodiment, thedevice profiles may be comprised of the following items: a devicecategory index; a device type index; a basic service set (BSS) maximum(max) idle period field defining a BSS max idle period value for thedevice category; and an access point (AP) Proxy field specifying thetraffic type that access point should respond to on behalf of acommunications device. The device category index and the device typeindex fields may comprise values indicative of a device category anddevice type such as the categories and types illustrated in FIG. 1D. TheBSS max idle period may enable an access point to indicate a time periodduring which the access point does not disassociate a communicationsdevice due to non-receipt of frames from the communications device. Forexample, the BSS max idle period may be set to a large value for fixed,battery-powered devices so that these devices can enter sleep mode forlonger periods of time and the BSS max idle period may be set to a smallvalue for mobile devices so that the network remains updated when thedevices, e.g., roam between areas associated with different accesspoints.

The AP Proxy columns may describe events in which the access point mayact as a proxy for an associated communications device such as networkmaintenance traffic. The present embodiment includes an access pointproxy field that defines the traffic type that an access point shouldrespond to on behalf of a station for the device type in the devicecategory. The AP proxy may include a bit for a proxy address resolutionprotocol traffic, a bit for keep alive traffic, and one or more bits forother network maintenance traffic. The proxy address resolution protocoltraffic column may comprise traffic in which a router node or accesspoint may receive traffic on behalf of the communications device and mayforward the traffic to the communications devices at a later point intime. The proxy address resolution protocol traffic may be set to alogical one to indicate that the access point should respond on behalfof the communications device for address resolution protocol traffic.

The keep alive traffic column may comprise traffic from other devicesthat require a response from the communications device to verify thatthe link between the other device and the communications device is goodor should be preserved. If the keep alive bit is set to a logical one,the access point may respond to keep alive traffic on behalf of thecommunications device.

The other traffic column may include, e.g., simple network managementprotocol (SNMP) traffic for managing devices on Internet Protocolnetworks. The SNMP traffic may be used in network management systems tomonitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrantadministrative attention so the access point may respond to such trafficon behalf of the communications device.

According to some embodiments, the device profile may also definetraffic pattern columns, so that access point can do some operations onbehalf of the communications device: traffic classification (TCLAS) andtraffic specifications (TSPEC) parameter setting for Traffic FilterService (TFS) column; TCLAS and TSPEC parameter setting for FlexibleMulticast Service (FMS) column; and/or TCLAS TSPEC parameter setting forDirected Multicast Service (DMS) column. The TCLAS parameters includeinformation that contains a set of parameters necessary to identifyincoming MSDUs with a particular traffic stream to which they belong.The TSPEC parameters include a set of parameters that definecharacteristics and quality of service (QoS) expectations of a trafficflow.

The TFS is a service in which an access point does not transmit allincoming frames to the associated communications device, but transmitsonly a frame corresponding to a predetermined condition. Transmittingonly frames meeting a predetermined condition rather than all frames tothe communications device may prevent unnecessary traffic fromoccurring, thereby enhancing the efficiency of usage of radio resourcesand reducing the power consumption.

The FMS is a service in which a communications device may requestindividual service for multicast traffic. The FMS may identify a set ofmulticast streams and allow tailoring of the delivery interval, as anumber of delivery traffic indication messages (DTIMs), and the datarate to be used.

The DMS is a multicast-to-unicast conversion service. The featuredelivers selected or identified multicast streams as unicast traffic bythe access point to the communications device. The benefits may includeincreased reliability, as unicast is acknowledged and automaticallyretransmitted, and savings in airtime.

In some embodiments, the other TCLAS/TSPEC traffic may include, e.g.,any QoS related TCLAS/TSPEC traffic. In further embodiments, if thecommunications device determines to customize the device profilesettings, the communications device may use TFS, FMS, DMS Request andResponse frames to have a set of customized parameters set at the accesspoint.

Rows of the device profiles table 1200 may comprise device profiles. Thedevice profiles may comprise default values for devices in a particularcategory of a particular device type. In other embodiments, the deviceprofiles table may comprise more parameters, less parameters, differentparameters, or some combination thereof The device profiles, in someembodiments, are not limited to a particular type of parameter.

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of an apparatus to generate, transmit,receive, and interpret a device profile index element in a frame. Theapparatus comprises a transceiver 200 coupled with medium access control(MAC) sublayer logic 201 and physical layer (PHY) logic 250. The MACsublayer logic 201 may encapsulate a MAC service data unit (MSDU) togenerate a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) to transmit to the PHY logic250 and the PHY logic 250 may generate a PPDU with one or more MPDUs totransmit via transceiver 200.

In many embodiments, the MAC sublayer logic 201 may comprise a framebuilder 202 to generate a frame to pass to the PHY logic 250 as an MPDUwith a device profile index element. The device profile index elementmay comprise data indicative of a particular device profile maintainedby an access point such as communications device 1010 in FIG. 1. Forexample, a frame builder 202 may generate a frame including a type fieldthat specifies, e.g., the frame is a management frame and a subtypefield to specify the function of the frame. A management frame maycomprise, e.g., a Beacon, Probe Request, Probe Response, AssociationRequest, Association Response, Reassociation Request, and ReassociationResponse frame subtype. The duration field that follows the first framecontrol field specifies the duration of this transmission. The durationfield may include the Network Allocation Vector (NAV), which can be usedas a protection mechanism for communications. An address field mayfollow the duration field, specifying the address of the intendedreceiver or receivers for this transmission. And a device profile indexelement indicative of a device profile for, e.g., a sensor that is anappliance monitor.

The PHY logic 250 may comprise a data unit builder 203. The data unitbuilder 203 may determine a preamble to encapsulate the MPDU to generatea PPDU. In many embodiments, the data unit builder 203 may create thepreamble based upon communications parameters chosen through interactionwith a destination communications device.

The transceiver 200 comprises a receiver 204 and a transmitter 206. Thetransmitter 206 may comprise one or more of an encoder 208, a modulator210, an OFDM 212, and a digital beam former (DBF) 214. The encoder 208of transmitter 206 receives and encodes data destined for transmissionfrom the MAC sublayer logic 202 with, e.g., a binary convolutionalcoding (BCC), a low density parity check coding (LDPC), and/or the like.The modulator 210 may receive data from encoder 208 and may impress thereceived data blocks onto a sinusoid of a selected frequency via, e.g.,mapping the data blocks into a corresponding set of discrete amplitudesof the sinusoid, or a set of discrete phases of the sinusoid, or a setof discrete frequency shifts relative to the frequency of the sinusoid.The output of modulator 210 is fed to an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexer (OFDM) 212, which impresses the modulated data frommodulator 210 onto a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers. In someembodiments, the output of the modulator 210 is fed to the OFDM througha space-time block coding (STBC). And, the output of the OFDM 212 may befed to the digital beam former (DBF) 214 to form a plurality of spatialchannels and steer each spatial channel independently to maximize thesignal power transmitted to and received from each of a plurality ofuser terminals.

The transceiver 200 may also comprise diplexers 216 connected to antennaarray 218. Thus, in this embodiment, a single antenna array is used forboth transmission and reception. When transmitting, the signal passesthrough diplexers 216 and drives the antenna with the up-convertedinformation-bearing signal. During transmission, the diplexers 216prevent the signals to be transmitted from entering receiver 204. Whenreceiving, information bearing signals received by the antenna arraypass through diplexers 216 to deliver the signal from the antenna arrayto receiver 204. The diplexers 216 then prevent the received signalsfrom entering transmitter 206. Thus, diplexers 216 operate as switchesto alternately connect the antenna array elements to the receiver 204and the transmitter 206.

Antenna array 218 radiates the information bearing signals into atime-varying, spatial distribution of electromagnetic energy that can bereceived by an antenna of a receiver. The receiver can then extract theinformation of the received signal.

The transceiver 200 may comprise a receiver 204 for receiving,demodulating, and decoding information bearing signals. The receiver 204may comprise one or more of a DBF 220, an OFDM 222, a demodulator 224and a decoder 226. The received signals are fed from antenna elements218 to a DBF 220. The DBF 220 transforms N antenna signals into Linformation signals. The output of the DBF 220 is fed to the OFDM 222.The OFDM 222 extracts signal information from the plurality ofsubcarriers onto which information-bearing signals are modulated. Thedemodulator 224 demodulates the received signal, extracting informationcontent from the received signal to produce an un-demodulatedinformation signal. And, the decoder 226 decodes the received data fromthe demodulator 224 and transmits the decoded information, the MPDU, tothe MAC sublayer logic 201.

Persons of skill in the art will recognize that a transceiver maycomprise numerous additional functions not shown in FIG. 2 and that thereceiver 204 and transmitter 206 can be distinct devices rather thanbeing packaged as one transceiver. For instance, embodiments of atransceiver may comprise a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), areference oscillator, filtering circuitry, synchronization circuitry,possibly multiple frequency conversion stages and multiple amplificationstages, etc. Further, some of the functions shown in FIG. 2 may beintegrated. For example, digital beam forming may be integrated withorthogonal frequency division multiplexing.

For embodiments in which the MAC sublayer logic 201 is part of an accesspoint, the MAC sublayer logic 201 may parse the MPDU to determine deviceprofile index element such as the device profile index element 1080illustrated in FIG. 1B. The MAC sublayer logic 201 may then utilize theindicated device category and device type to determine a device profilefrom a device profiles data structure such as the device profiles table1200 illustrated in FIG. 1E. Based upon the device profile, the accesspoint may set parameters associated with the correspondingcommunications device to determine subsequent interaction with thecorresponding communications device.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of a flowchart 300 to generate a frame witha device profile index element. The flowchart 300 begins with a mediumaccess control (MAC) sublayer logic determining a MAC header for anassociation or reassociation frame (element 305). For instance, the MACsublayer logic may determine a header comprising a frame controlindicative of a management type frame and an association orreassociation request subtype frame.

The MAC sublayer logic may determine an element identifier field of anelement in a frame body of the association or reassociation requestframe (element 310). The element identifier field may provide data toidentify an element in which the succeeding fields conform with a deviceprofile index element. The MAC sublayer logic may determine a lengthfield of the element of the frame body (element 315), determine thedevice category field of the frame body (element 320), and determine thedevice type field of the frame body (element 325). In many embodiments,determining the element identifier field, the length field, and thedevice profile identifier field (including the device category field andthe device type field) may comprise retrieving these fields from astorage medium for inclusion in a frame. In other embodiments, thevalues to include in such fields may be stored in a storage medium suchas a read only memory, random access memory, a cache, a buffer, aregister, or the like. In further embodiments, one or more of theelement identifier field, the length field, and the device profileidentifier field may be hardcoded into the MAC sublayer logic orotherwise available for insertion into a frame. In still otherembodiments, the MAC sublayer logic may generate the device profileindex element based upon access to indications of the values for each.

In some embodiments, the MAC sublayer logic may determine other elementsof the frame body (element 330). For instance, some elements may beinserted prior to the device profile index element and some elements maybe inserted after the device profile index element. Other elements mayinclude, for example, supported rates, extended supported rates, powercapability, supported channels, QoS capability, and vendor specificparameters. For reassociation request frames, the frame body may alsoinclude the current access point address.

After determining the frame body, the MAC sublayer logic may determine aframe check sequence (FCS) field value (element 335) to provide forerror corrections at the access point.

FIGS. 4A-B depict embodiments of flowcharts 400 and 450 to transmit,receive, and interpret communications with a device profile indexelement as illustrated in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 4A, the flowchart400 may begin with receiving a frame from the frame builder comprising adevice profile index element indicative of a device category and adevice type associated with a communications device. The MAC sublayerlogic of the communications device may generate the frame as amanagement frame to transmit to an access point and may pass the frameas an MPDU to a data unit builder that transforms the data into a packetthat can be transmitted to the access point. The data unit builder maygenerate a preamble to encapsulate the PSDU (the MPDU from the framebuilder) to form a PPDU for transmission (element 405). In someembodiments, more than one MPDU may be encapsulated in a PPDU.

The PPDU may then be transmitted to the physical layer device such asthe transmitter 206 in FIG. 2 or the transceiver 1020,1040 in FIG. 1 sothe PPDU may be converted to a communication signal (element 410). Thetransmitter may then transmit the communication signal via the antenna(element 415).

Referring to FIG. 4B, the flowchart 450 begins with a receiver of anaccess point such as the receiver 204 in FIG. 2 receiving acommunication signal via one or more antenna(s) such as an antennaelement of antenna array 218 (element 455). The receiver may convert thecommunication signal to an MPDU in accordance with the process describedin the preamble (element 460). More specifically, the received signal isfed from the one or more antennas to a DBF such as the DBF 220. The DBFtransforms the antenna signals into information signals. The output ofthe DBF is fed to OFDM such as the OFDM 222. The OFDM extracts signalinformation from the plurality of subcarriers onto whichinformation-bearing signals are modulated. Then, the demodulator such asthe demodulator 224 demodulates the signal information via, e.g., BPSK,16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, QPSK, or SQPSK. And the decoder such as thedecoder 226 decodes the signal information from the demodulator via,e.g., BCC or LDPC, to extract the MPDU (element 460) and transmits theMPDU to MAC sublayer logic such as MAC sublayer logic 202 (element 465).

The MAC sublayer logic may determine a device profile identifier fromthe MPDU (element 470) such as the device profile identifier 1090 inFIG. 1C. For instance, the MAC sublayer logic may parse the frame todetermine the frame body and parse or decode the frame body to determinethe device profile index element. The MAC sublayer logic may then parseor decode the device profile index element based upon a frame structurefor the device profile index element stored in memory and determine dataindicative of the device category and device type such as the deviceprofile identifier.

Then the MAC sublayer logic may determine a device profile to associatewith the communications device that is the source of the communicationssignal and the device profile identifier based upon the device profileidentifier (element 475). For example, the MAC sublayer logic may parseor decode the device profile identifier based upon the structure for thedevice profile identifier in memory of the access point and determine,e.g., the device category and device type associated with thecommunications device that is the source of the communications signal.The MAC sublayer logic may utilize the device profile identifier toidentify the device profile in a device profile data structure that isaccessible by the access point, e.g., because the device profile datastructure resides in memory of the access point. Utilizing the deviceprofile identifier to identify the device profile may involve looking upor identifying a record in the device profile data structure comprisingthe device profile by using the device category and device type asindexes to the device profile data structure.

Another embodiment is implemented as a program product for implementingsystems and methods described with reference to FIGS. 1-4. Someembodiments can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment, or an embodiment containing both hardwareand software elements. One embodiment is implemented in software, whichincludes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode,etc.

Furthermore, embodiments can take the form of a computer program product(or machine-accessible product) accessible from a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium providing program code for use by or inconnection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For thepurposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readablemedium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device). Examples ofa computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid-statememory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk, and anoptical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compactdisk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W), andDVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

The logic as described above may be part of the design for an integratedcircuit chip. The chip design is created in a graphical computerprogramming language, and stored in a computer storage medium (such as adisk, tape, physical hard drive, or virtual hard drive such as in astorage access network). If the designer does not fabricate chips or thephotolithographic masks used to fabricate chips, the designer transmitsthe resulting design by physical means (e.g., by providing a copy of thestorage medium storing the design) or electronically (e.g., through theInternet) to such entities, directly or indirectly. The stored design isthen converted into the appropriate format (e.g., GDSII) for thefabrication.

The resulting integrated circuit chips can be distributed by thefabricator in raw wafer form (that is, as a single wafer that hasmultiple unpackaged chips), as a bare die, or in a packaged form. In thelatter case, the chip is mounted in a single chip package (such as aplastic carrier, with leads that are affixed to a motherboard or otherhigher level carrier) or in a multichip package (such as a ceramiccarrier that has either or both surface interconnections or buriedinterconnections). In any case, the chip is then integrated with otherchips, discrete circuit elements, and/or other signal processing devicesas part of either (a) an intermediate product, such as a motherboard, or(b) an end product.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that the present disclosure contemplates a deviceprofile index element to communicate a device profile to anothercommunications device. It is understood that the form of the embodimentsshown and described in the detailed description and the drawings are tobe taken merely as examples. It is intended that the following claims beinterpreted broadly to embrace all variations of the example embodimentsdisclosed.

1.-38. (canceled)
 39. A method comprising: generating, by a mediumaccess control sublayer logic, a frame comprising data indicative of adevice category and a device type to associate with a communicationsdevice; encapsulating, by a physical layer logic, the frame with apreamble to create a physical layer protocol data unit to transmit; andtransmitting, by an antenna, the frame encapsulated by a preamble. 40.The method of claim 39, wherein the frame comprises a device profileindex element to associate the communications device with a deviceprofile, wherein the device profile index element comprises the dataindicative of the device category and the device type.
 41. The method ofclaim 39, further comprising storing, by the medium access controlsublayer logic, at least part of the frame in memory.
 42. The method ofclaim 40, wherein generating the frame comprises generating the framewith the device profile index element in a frame body of the frame of anassociation request.
 43. The method of claim 40, wherein generating theframe comprises generating the frame with the device profile indexelement comprising an element identifier field, a length field, and adevice profile identifier.
 44. The method of claim 43, whereingenerating the frame with the device profile index element comprisesgenerating the frame with the device profile identifier comprising adevice category field to indicate the device category and a device typefield to indicate the device type.
 45. The method of claim 44, whereingenerating the frame with the device profile index element comprisesgenerating the frame with the device profile identifier comprising adevice category field that is eight bytes in length and a device typefield that is eight bytes in length.
 46. A communication device,comprising: a memory; a medium access control sublayer logic coupled tothe memory to generate a frame comprising data indicative of a devicecategory and a device service type associated with the communicationdevice; a physical layer logic coupled to the memory to prepend theframe with a preamble to create a physical layer protocol data unit totransmit; and a transmitter coupled with the medium access control logicto transmit the frame.
 47. The communications device of claim 46,wherein the frame comprises a device profile index element to associatethe communications device with a device profile, wherein the deviceprofile index element comprises the data indicative of a device categoryand the device type.
 48. The device of claim 47, further comprising anantenna coupled with the transmitter to transmit the frame.
 49. Thedevice of claim 46, wherein the medium access control logic is coupledwith the memory to store at least a portion of the frame.
 50. The deviceof claim 47, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic togenerate the frame with the device profile index element in a frame bodyof the frame of an association request.
 51. The device of claim 47,wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to generate theframe with the device profile index element comprising an elementidentifier field, a length field, and a device profile identifier. 52.The device of claim 47, wherein the medium access control logiccomprises logic to generate the frame with the device profile identifiercomprising a device category field to indicate the device category and adevice type field to indicate the device type.
 53. The device of claim47, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to generatethe frame with the device profile identifier comprising a devicecategory field that is eight bytes in length and a device type fieldthat is eight bytes in length.
 54. One or more non-transitory computerreadable media comprising instructions to, upon execution of theinstructions by a processor of a wireless station (STA) configured tooperate in a wireless network, cause the STA to: generate, by a mediumaccess control sublayer logic, a frame comprising data indicative of adevice category and a device type to associate with the STA;encapsulate, by a physical layer logic, the frame with a preamble tocreate a physical layer protocol data unit to transmit; and transmit, byan antenna, the frame encapsulated by a preamble.
 55. The one or morenon-transitory computer readable media of claim 54, wherein the framecomprises a device profile index element to associate the communicationsdevice with a device profile, wherein the device profile index elementcomprises the data indicative of the device category and the devicetype.
 56. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media ofclaim 55, further comprising storing, by the medium access controlsublayer logic, at least part of the frame in memory.
 57. The one ormore non-transitory computer readable media of claim 56, whereingenerating the frame comprises generating the frame with the deviceprofile index element in a frame body of the frame of an associationrequest.
 58. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media ofclaim 56, wherein generating the frame comprises generating the framewith the device profile index element comprising an element identifierfield, a length field, and a device profile identifier.